and Wowza DH
The Wowza trail is part of the Wasatch State Park trail system in Pine Canyon above Midway. It's located south of Guardsman Pass and the Bonanza Loop at 8800 feet elevation. The combined top of Wowza and Wowza DH is at the southern (downhill) end of Tall T. The bottom end joins WOW 2.7 miles from the upper WOW trailhead.
Wowza has a stunt-filled DH alternate that begins at the top of Wowza and extends down to hit WOW just a few feet from the bottom of Wowza. While designed for expert riders, there are ride-arounds to the stunts that allow experienced intermediates to ride it.
The terrain is heavily wooded. The lower elevations are covered in mature quaking aspens. A few fir trees begin to appear near the top.
Wowza is mostly smooth dirt, with some rock breaking through the trail surface in spots. There are a couple of rock roll-overs that can be done in either direction. Usually the main riding line goes around these roll-overs.
The Wowza DH is an expert-level trail. There are wooden and rock features plus gap jumps. But there are ride-arounds to all the dangerous stuff. So if a rider hits only the alternate lines and the ride-arounds, the trail will be intermediate in skill requirement. The DH is 1.1 miles long, dropping 400 vertical feet.
The trail warning sign at the top of Wowza DH -- combined with a bumpy initial climb through rock gardens -- scares most non-experts away from this trail. But if you watch the "easy route" signs and take the ride-around paths, it's not that tough.
Quite a few riders, especially those with e-bikes, are using Wowza as a climbing route, continuing on up Tall T up to Bonanza. Note, however, that e-bikes and dogs are forbidden on the Bonanza Loop.
There's a loop ride option from Empire Pass, using Tug of War and Tricky Pickle as the eastern half of the loop. But this trail was closed at the time of my review. I don't know what the future holds for this route.
My video shows a non-shuttled ride from the upper WOW trailhead, 7.5 miles with just over 1000 vertical for a single lap up Wowza and down Wowza DH.
This trailhead is used for shuttle vehicles, bike park riders, or for those who want to climb the whole thing. From Provo Canyon, drive east to the end of Deer Creek Reservoir. Right where the water ends, turn left (north) on U-113. Zero your odometer. Drive north 3.8 miles into Midway. On Main Street, turn left (west) onto Highway 222. Follow the signs for Wasatch Mountain State Park and/or for Guardsman Pass, staying on 222 as below. When you pass the campground (on your left), watch for a gravel pull-out area outlined by large boulders on the right side of the road about 1/4 mile later. The WOW trail starts across the road from this parking spot.
A Utah state park fee (or an annual pass) is required to park anywhere in Pine Canyon!
Drive to Pine Canyon (see above) then continue 5 miles past the lower trailhead and turn left at the sign. The upper WOW trailhead is the closest parking to Wowza, with 2.7 miles of singletrack to reach the bottom of Wowza and the Wowza DH. This large parking area is five miles up the Pine Canyon Road from the lower WOW parking (see below). It includes a toilet building.
For those who want to descend through Tall T to Wowza, it's around 1.3 miles by pavement from this parking lot to where the Bonanza Loop crosses the Pine Canyon Road. Note that this trailhead requires you to pay the Wasatch Mountain State Park entry fee or have a Utah state parks pass.
The entry to WOW is on the downhill side of the parking area, at a break in the log fence.
The Bonanza Loop connects to Tall T, which connects to Wowza. The Bonanza Flat trailhead is on Guardsman Road, 1/2 mile west of Empire Pass and 0.4 miles west of the Pine Canyon road intersection with the Guardsman Road. The trail entry is on the southwest side of the parking area, heading west into the grove of aspen trees. (The trail on the southeastern corner, just downhill from the toilet building, is the return path, while the trail going uphill across the road is the 9K connector trail.)
In 2026, the parking fee for Bonanza Flat is a breathtaking $5 per hour on weekdays and $8 per hour on weekends. Do NOT park along the road. You'll likely get a ticket. My advice: find another trailhead and pedal to the Bonanza loop, or take the shuttle bus.
The trail can be reached through the Empire Pass parking area. This is a very small trailhead, and will usually be full on weekends. Take the doubletrack west past the top of Corvair, then turn LEFT 0.1 miles after leaving the parking area. Descend to the west for 1/2 mile, crossing Guardsman Road to the Bonanza Flat trailhead.
There's also parking one mile downhill where the Midmountain Trail crosses the Empire Pass road. You can climb Corvair, Tour des Suds, or Boulder to Empire Pass, then descend the 9K connector to Bonanza Flat.
Stay to the right at the trail fork with Tricky Pickle at mile 0.6 from the trailhead.
At mile 1.4, turn to the right to stay on WOW. The straight, broader path is a connector out to the highway.
At mile 2.6, you'll climb some meanders in a meadow. When you enter the aspens again at mile 2.7, Wowza forks hard to your right. (The Wowza DH is just 10 feet further along the WOW trail. Don't go there!)
While the loop is officially two-way, the preferred direction for bikes is clockwise. If you pedaled up the road from the upper WOW trailhead, you may wish to take the lower side of the loop uphill for a shorter path. Turn left at mile 1.3 from the WOW trailhead. If you want to go clockwise, continue up the road until you reach the upper crossing and turn left.
The route is heavily forested, but occasionally there will be breakouts where you can see past the fir trees and aspens.
You'll arrive at the trail at mile 2.7 from the upper WOW trailhead, or at mile 7.9 if you're climbing from the lower WOW parking lot.
As mentioned above, Wowza and Wowza DH share a common origin at the lower end of Tall T, and arrive at the WOW trail just a few feet apart.
The terrain is almost all aspen forest. Near the top there's a small stand of fir. In spots where the sun breaks through the aspens, there are plenty of wildflowers.
If you're deliberately hitting the harder stuff, the ride will be true expert or even double-black.
The trail begins with a short uphill climb through a few rock gardens.
At spots where the trail has A/B lines that are marked with signs, you can expect every feature on the easier line to be roll-able. If you've selected the hard line, there will be gap jumps and drops that aren't visible as you approach the feature.
It's not intuitive here, but the "down" direction on WOW -- to the bottom of the canyon -- is the slightly-uphill slope to your right. The "up" direction toward the upper trailhead is downhill on the left.
Great trail, well worth the trip. Short riding season, so grab it when you can! Nice views. Takes a bit of work to get there, regardless of which direction you come from.
